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What is likely to dip in price this week?
Ebook readers
19% cheaper on average than last week.
Football shirts
9% cheaper on average than last week.
Espresso makers
11% cheaper on average than last week.
Bluetooth speakers
12% cheaper on average than last week.
Climbing frames
17% cheaper on average than last week.
Men’s boots
12% cheaper on average than last week.
This is a good time to think about buying...
Kids’ scooters
Not only is spring knocking on the door, but so is the cheapest time to purchase some of the top spring products.
As the weather improves, no doubt the kids will be keener than ever to race out the door and down to the park, with many opting for a speedier approach on a mini scooter.
March is the cheapest month to buy kids’ scooters, with models from all the top brands – such as Micro Sprite, Razor and Ozbozz – around 17% cheaper than the most expensive month of June.
This week, we reckon UK consumers will be buying...
Travel items
Since the news broke that foreign holidays may be possible later this year, many Brits have been booking breaks as fast as they can and looking forward, once more, to a trip to sunnier climes.
We’ve certainly waited long enough.
But here’s the thing, it’s been so long since most of us have been away that those travel essentials we had from last time may no longer fit us – or even be in working order.
That’s why we expect to see a jump in demand for items such as pull-along suitcases, sunglasses and swimwear.
Ringing out from a tangled mass of ivy came the warming sounds of spring.
A young male blackcap was priming his vocal cords to produce one of nature’s most understated but joyous songs.
Where he would get to deliver his final repertoire – sounds as rich and vibrant as those of the nightingale, marsh warbler and blackbird – remained a mystery.
I listened as the hushed warbles, known to ornithologists as ‘sub-song’, floated from the clumps of evergreen foliage, wondering if this bird was practising his territorial claims before heading back to eastern Europe any time soon.
Or had he just arrived from North Africa to find a mate?
One of the most remarkable phenomena witnessed by birdwatchers in recent times has been the pioneering survival strategy of the blackcap.
These handsome birds – the males a shade of leaden grey with distinctive black top-knots, females, with chocolate brown caps – have long been regarded as one of our traditional summer migrants from the Mediterranean basin.
Studies show that when British blackcaps head south in autumn after nesting they are being replaced by increasing numbers of arrivals from central Europe.
By heading for the UK, these eastern birds reduce the threats that come from a long migration across the Mediterranean, with its hordes of bird-eating falcons and the risk of being shot by hunters. And they can also take advantage of the way we Brits love feeding our garden birds.
Birdwatchers reporting sightings to the excellent BirdTrack recording partnership scheme run from the British Trust for Ornithology have tallied more than 4,100 blackcaps wintering here since December.
The survival strategy appears to be working, as scientists are noticing subtle differences between wintering and summering blackcaps’ beak and wing measurements, hinting at a possible evolutionary process.
Blackcaps that have wintered in the UK tend to breed with each other back in their European nesting grounds rather than with birds adhering to the old migration routes and journeying south to escape the perishing cold.
The survival strategy is working and hinting at an evolutionary process too